Hamburg, 18. June - Volkspark Stadium
WEST GERMANY - AUSTRALIA  3:0 (2:0)

53,300 spectators - Referee: Mustafa Kamel (Egypt),
West Germany : Maier, Vogts, Breitner, Schwarzenbeck, Beckenbauer (C),
Cullmann (68 Wimmer), Grabowski, Hoeness, Muller, Overath,
Heynckes (46 Holzenbein) - Coach: H. Schon.
Australia : Reilly, Utjesenovic, Wilson (C), Schaefer, Curran, Richards,
Rooney, Mackay, Campbell (46 Abonyi), Alston, Buljevic (61 Ollerton) - Coach: R.Rasic.
.
Yellow card: Mackay (55)

The Socceroos play its second match in front of nearly 54,000 people at the Hamburg Volkspark Stadium against West Germany which play this game in green jerseys. The football world was sure that the Germans would have an easy win. The Australians, who surprised many despite their loss to East Germany in the first game, wanted to put on good performance. In the lead-up to the match, the German players said that the Socceroos would play a tough physical game, but the match was played fairly. When the players came on the field, Aussie fan Jim Scane was there. He is the Socceroos' No. 1 fan, and travels everywhere to support the team.

The two captains, Peter Wilson for Australia and the German football legend Franz Beckenbauer, exchange their pennants before the match. West Germany wins the toss and elects to kick off.
Exactly at 4:30pm the Egyptian referee signals for the game to start - it's Australia against the team which aims to win the world title.
From the kick off, West Germany starts with fast combinations and seeks to exert powerful pressure.

It's West Germany which fashions the first chance through Uli Hoeness, who collects a perfect 35-metre pass from Wolfgang Overath. It takes just 20 seconds, Socceroo goalkeeper Jack Reilly is the first Australian to touch the ball.

In the first minutes the crowd gets a snapshot of what would be the teams' tactics for the match: a strong defensive Australian team and a forward-pressing opponent. In the second minute the Socceroos enter the West German half. Col Curran passes, Ernie Campbell tries to get the ball, but fails and the ball goes out of play.

In the fourth minute, Germany has its first big chance. Hoeness gets a pass from forward Juergen Grabowski and has a free path to goal. But he plays the ball to Gerd Mueller who misses a good opportunity. Muller's shot is cleared by Doug Utjesenovic and the first corner goes to West Germany. The corner kick ends in another German corner. This time the ball goes to Mueller, but Wilson saves the situation with a strong tackle.
The next wave comes just two minutes later, when Jupp Heynckes tries a dribble up his left, but is stopped by Utjesenovic.

The Germans try to open up the Socceroo defence with long passes, especially by Wolfgang Overath. He tries to pull the defence out of the penalty area. In the ninth minute of the game, Mueller gets another chance after a pass from Beckenbauer, but Manfred Schaefer, who shadows Mueller wherever he goes, clears the situation and keeper Reilly gets the ball.
Eleven minutes in, Adrian Alston approaches the German penalty area, but the referee blows for a foul against him, as the tall striker uses his body too hard in a challenge.

But the German pressure is relentless, and it is little surprise when the German crowd gets its first chance to celebrate a minute late. Overath, who gets the ball in midfield, turns and shoots from 22 metres. Reilly does his best to reach it but the ball flies in at the top corner. The home crowd goes crazy. Coach Rale Rasic was desperate not to concede an early goal, but he could not prevent Overath, who is in World Class form today.

Now the Germans attack in waves. A free kick, taken by Hoeness, passes close by Reilly's goal just before the quarter-hour - Australia is very lucky not to let in a second goal. Hoeness is stopped at the last by Wilson.

After a wonderful pass by Berti Vogts, Mueller leaps to head the ball, leaving Reilly grasping air, but the ball hits the bar. Overath excels in midfield and the crowd cheers every time he is on the ball.

Shortly after another chance falls to Mueller, but the ball goes narrowly over the bar. West Germany has opened up Australian in its attacks down the right.
Australia tries to get forward, but does so with much caution and wariness. Rarely does Australia send four players over the half-way line. It's only Alston who causes the German defence problems with his powerful runs.

West Germany gets a few corners, but the Socceroos fight, straining every muscle, to clear the danger, Schaefer especially. German-born Schaefer has his hands full tracking Mueller. Wilson jumps for every high ball. He shows who is the boss with his hard and uncompromising tackles.
In the 20th minute, the Socceroos get its first corner. A long throw-in by Ray Richards is headed by Beckenbauer over the goal-line. Jimmy Rooney takes the corner, but Sepp Maier catches the ball before Ernie Campbell can reach it with his head.

Seconds later, after Maier punts the ball up the the field, Grabowski shoots, but Wilson deflects the ball with his chest for another German corner. The ball sails high into the penalty area, but is saved by Reilly who concedes another corner. Reilly clears the the second.

The Germans shoot from every angle. Reilly has a tough job. Australia has a good chance up the other end, in the 24th minute, in a rare attack. A cross is launched by Utjesenovic who made a run up the wing but is cleared by Vogts. Branko Buljevic also gets the ball in a good position. But the Germans get an even stronger grip. Corner after corner is sent into the Australian goalmouth. Utjesenovic is down for a few minutes following a strong tackle, but gets up and continues.

Shortly later, Wilson fouls Mueller in the penalty area, but the referee plays on as he sees Germany has the advantage. Hoeness shoots missing only by inches. A few seconds after that, Alston gets the ball, he passes defender Schwarzenbeck and shoots, but over the bar. In the same minute, the Socceroos gets its best chance to date. Buljevic starts a run in his own half. He sends a pass to the forward running Curran. Curran goes around Cullmann and crosses the ball to Buljevic who continued his run up the middle. Buljevic jumps for the ball but just fails to connect. What a chance!

Just before the half-hour another chance falls for the West Germans. Beckenbauer plays a one-two with Overath and sends in a pin-point cross. Hoeness and Mueller miss a great opportunity from just two metres out as Wilson clears the ball off the goal line.

In the 30th minute, Wilson makes another last-ditch intervention to stave off a dangerous situation when Reilly was out too late. Shortly after, at the other end of the ground, Schwarzenbeck kicks the ball over the sideline just before Alston could reach it. Richards takes the throw, but it's not well-directed and Maier catches it. The crowd shows its amazement at the distance Richards gets on his long throws.

But the inevitable happens. In the 34th minute, Overath sends another of his unbelievable passes to Hoeness, who storms forward up the right, turns around Wilson and sends the ball in to the middle. A fine header by Cologne player Bernd Cullmann leaves Reilly rooted to the spot. It's now 2:0 to West Germany.
The crowd thinks this will be the start of a goal-fest. Australia has to fight hard now not to go down. And the German pressure continues.

Vogts tests Reilly with a hard shot from distance in the 38th minute. Reilly reaches the ball but concedes another corner. Luckily this ends with no danger for the Socceroos. But now Australia is getting more into the contest. In the 41st minute, a long pass from Jimmy Mackay finds Curran up front. But before Curran could get the ball under control, Maier, who comes out of his goal, gathers.

A dangerous header by Mueller is saved brilliantly by Reilly, and is the last action in the first half. The teams return to the change-rooms with West Germany 2:0 up.

Halftime between WEST GERMANY - AUSTRALIA 2 - 0

At the half-time break, coach Socceroo Rale Rasic makes one change. For Marconi Fairfield's Campbell he brings on St George forward Atti Abonyi to get more power into the attack.
The players return to the fray and Australia has kick off for the second half taken by Alston and Abonyi. Australia starts exerting a little more pressure and gets an early chance.

Alston, who passes Schwarzenbeck, runs alone towards the German goal but his shot lacks pace and is too close to Maier who has no real difficulty holding the ball. The Germans get back into the game. Wilson has to use his whole body in his defence duties.

After a pass by Schwarzenbeck in the 52nd minute, Paul Breitner moves around Abonyi and sends a sharp cross into Australia's penalty area, but Schaefer heads the ball over the goal-line for a corner.
Hoeness takes it and sends the ball dangerously into the Australian goalmouth. Mueller, top scorer of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, needs only a second to escape his opponents Schaefer and Utjesenovic and heads the ball into the Australian net.

Now it's 3:0 against the Socceroos and the crowd in the stadium goes crazy and demands more goals. The Australian players are shocked. The goal was a terrible mistake by the defence.

Mackay is booked in the 55th minute, after he handles the ball then kicks it away after the whistle was sounded.

Seconds later, Hoeness has a big chance for the fourth goal. Bernd Hoelzenbein, who came on at the half-time break, moves around Utjesenovic. He passes by Wilson as well and crosses the ball to Hoeness' head. But Hoeness jumps too early and fails to get over the ball to direct it downwards, sending it over the bar instead.

Just after the hour, Rasic makes another change. Peter Ollerton comes on for the unlucky Buljevic. The Socceroos are now more attacking, but that opens up space for the Germans.
In the 63rd minute, Cullmann fouls Rooney. The free kick is taken by Curran. From nearly 30 metres Curran sends in a shot, but it narrowly misses.

Seconds later, there's another big chance for Australia. Utjesenovic runs up the right wing and crosses. Vogts saves the situation by reaching it just before Ollerton. That was a very dangerous situation for the Germans. Australia gets a corner kick but fails to extract any advantage.

A minute later, Grabowski is fouled by Rooney close to the Australian penalty area. The free kick, taken by Hoeness, is cleared by Schaefer.
Shortly after that, Cullmann leaves the field. Wimmer from Gladbach is his replacement.

Alston is now suffereing calf cramp after his exertions and he goes to the ground. Some of his team-mates carry him off the field. The game is stopped for a few moments.

In the middle of the second half, the Germans take their foot off the pedal, confident of victory, much to the dislike of the spectators, who want to see a German eleven fight to the last. In addition, some careless play starts to come in to the German game, and is met with disapproving whistles by the spectators.

In the 72nd minute, Richards gets the ball from Abonyi, but before he has a chance to shoot, he is put off by a last-gasp challenge. The Socceroos are now playing a more attacking game and with the aim of at least scoring a goal.
Three minutes later, a cross from Rooney comes into the goalmouth, Richards misses it, but the ball falls to Ollerton. Before Ollerton could react, the ball is kicked away by Hoelzenbein. The Germans are always a step faster than the Socceroos.

The crowd is now not happy with the German performance, and they let the players know. Beckenbauer is angry about this. It's obvious the Kaiser is unhappy with the supporters' reaction, and the crowd then make him the focus of its displeasure. Whenever he is on the ball he is whistled at
unmercifully.

But the Socceroos play on, and in the 84th minute they have their biggest chance. Mackay crosses the ball to Abonyi, who turns in his perfect style and sends in a shot. Maier looks on helplessly, but the ball hits the post.
Australia is very unlucky not to score its first World Cup goal.
Now - in a major turn-around - the Hamburg crowd starts to support the Australians.
In the game's last minutes, the whole stadium is on the side of the Socceroos. It's a strange situation for the team.

The players are so far away from home, playing against a world class team on its own home soil, and the crowd is chanting "Australia! Australia!".

Whenever Beckenbauer gets the ball, there's the sound of loud booing and whistling. The German captain displays a cool smile, but everyone sees that he is getting nervous and looking forward to the end of the game.

Then there's another chance for Germany. Hoeness and Mueller play a one-two, but Wilson clears the situation. On the counter-attack, Richards shoots from around 20 metres but only hits the side-netting.
Shortly after that, Reilly makes a great save after a mistake by Wilson, and at the other end Curran has a good chance. It's now end-to-end stuff as the final whislte approaches.
The German fans are still on the side of the Australians, who have the last chance of the game. Alston makes a good run, and passes to Curran who is waiting unmarked in front of the German goal - but the referee whistles. He saw that Alston had hand-balled just before the cross.

Then the game is over. The crowd is angry about its team, but they applauded the Socceroos. On the pitch the players exchange shirts.

All in all, it is a good result for Australia against the mighty world stars. The team played well, especially Reilly, Wilson, and Schaefer. Curran yet again played an unbelievable game, like the rest of the team. But it was not enough to stop West Germany on its way to the second round of the World Cup.

Statistik	Offside	Corners	Fouls	ThrowIn	Post/ Bar	Shoots o. goal	near goal	wrong pass
	2	3	9	9	1	3	4	18
	0	16	10	16	1	13	11	13

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